Photo of Deirdre DawsonDeirdre R. DawsonAssociate Professor

Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy
Scientist, Kunin-Lunenfeld Applied Research Unit, Baycrest
(416) 785-2500 x 2136
d.dawson@utoronto.ca

School of Graduate Studies

  • Associate Member

Cross Appointments

  • Graduate Department of Rehabilitation Sciences
  • Collaborative Program in Neuroscience
  • Associate Member, Heart and Stroke Foundation Centre for Stroke Recovery
  • Adjunct Scientist, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute

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Biosketch

Dr. Dawson is a Scientist with the Kunin-Lunenfeld Applied Research Unit at Baycrest in Toronto, and on faculty in the Department of Occupational Science, & Occupational Therapy at the University of Toronto.  She received her PhD in Psychology, Brain and Behaviour from the University of Toronto, her MSc in Epidemiology also from the University of Toronto, and her Bachelor of Science in Rehabilitation from the University of British Columbia. Between her undergraduate and graduate studies, she gained considerable clinical expertise working with adults with acquired brain injury and stroke.  Her research interests have flowed from and been informed by this clinical work.  She is concerned with developing effective, occupationally based interventions for adults with cognitive impairment following acquired brain injury and stroke.

Selected Recent Publications

  1. Krpan, K., Levine, B., Stuss, D. and Dawson, D. (2007). Executive function and coping at one-year post traumatic brain injury. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 29, 36-46.
  2. Winocur, G., Palmer, H., Dawson, D., Binns, M., Bridges, K. and Stuss, D. T. (2007). Cognitive rehabilitation in the elderly: An evaluation of psychosocial factors. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 13, 153-165.
  3. Dawson, D., Schwartz, M., Winocur, G. and Stuss, D. (2007). Return to Productivity following traumatic brain injury: Cognitive, psychological, physical, spiritual and environmental correlates. Disability & Rehabilitation, 29, 301-313.
  4. Burgess, P., Alderman, N., Forbes, C., Costello, A., Coates, L., Dawson, D., Anderson, N., Gilbert, S., Dumontheil, I. and Channon, S. (2006). The case for the development and use of “ecologically valid” measures of executive function in experimental and clinical neuropsychology. Journal of the International Neurospsychological Society, 12, 194-209.
  5. Dawson, D., Levine, B., Schwartz, M. and Stuss, D. (2004). Acute predictors of real-world outcomes following traumatic brain injury: A prospective study. Brain Injury, 18, 221-238.

Recent Thesis/Projects Supervised

  1. " Validating a return to work model for persons with traumatic brain injury". Marian Bassilious-Samy (MScOT), 2007.
  2. "Recovery after stroke: Perspectives of survivors". Jennifer Holmes (MScOT), 2006.
  3. "Ecological validity of bedside tests of neglect". Shira Tenenbaum (MScOT), 2006.
  4. "Occupationally focused constraint-induced movement therapy in the geriatric stroke population". Martha McCall (MSc), 2005.
  5. " Executive Function & Coping Following Traumatic Brain Injury". Katherine Krpan (MA), 2003.

Research Interests

My research is concerned with optimizing occupational performance, that is, enabling persons to do the day-to-day activities they want to do. In general, my research focuses on adults and older adults with acquired brain injury and stroke. My interests are in determining the factors that contribute to successful outcomes and in designing and testing rehabilitation programs that use these factors. Currently I am involved with several intervention studies, one is a multi-faceted cognitive rehabilitation intervention for people with white matter disease, the second is the application of a contextualized meta-cognitive approach for adults with traumatic brain injury. I am also interested in naturalistic assessment and am pursuing research to understand how our interventions can be informed by errors made in performance and by strategies used in situ.

Current Courses

OCT1262Y: Enabling occupation in adults (Instructor and Co-Coordinator)

Special Lectures / Keynote Speeches

  1. Dawson, D. 14th Annual Rotman Research Institute Conference, Clinical Workshop. Toronto. “From dressing to quality of life: Measuring recovery in the real-world”. March 2004.
  2. Dawson, D. Sunnybrook & Women’s College Traumatic Brain Injury Update, Toronto. “Rehabilitation for people with mild–moderate brain injury.” January 2006.
  3. Dawson, D. Rehabilitation Research Training Center on TBI Interventions: State of the Science Conference, Washington, DC. Pre-course to the Joint ACRM-ASNR Annual Meeting. “Measuring Difficult to Measure Constructs: Executive Dysfunction”, October 2007.
  4. Dawson, D. 7th Annual Kunin-Lunenfeld Applied Research Unit Conference, Toronto, “Cognitive rehabilitation for the elderly: Practical approaches”. October 2007.
  5. Dawson, D. West Greater Toronto Area Stroke Network's 2nd Annual Rehabilitation Symposium, Toronto. Psychosocial considerations in cognitive rehabilitation. February, 2008.

 

Department of Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy

Faculty